Youkai Amnesia Cocktail
by Aryquin
Summary: About 5 years after the Demon World Tournament, Chu and crew are training and bounty hunting for a living. Enter one mysterious spirit with a bad case of amnesia and almost no fighting skills. Parts based off Lucifer Dragon's fanfics with permission.
1. Chapter 1

**Words from the author: OK, so still getting used to the whole setup here on , so please bear with the formatting glitches that come up as a result. I kinda wonder if this thing is enjoying the mischief it's causing... oh well. Onto the story, and as always, please enjoy ^.^**

"Well, who would've thought that the bounty had gone down so low?" The speaker said before his taller companion bashed him on top of the head. His hat took only some of the edge off the blow. "OW!"

"It's called 'Doin' yer research' and apparently you didn't do enough. Why'd you have to send us out on this wild goose chase anyway? He was a pipsqueak. A pint-sized puny runt of a demon with a tiny bounty," The basher sighed as he slipped his arms behind his Mohawk and started twirling his finger around the tie that held his mullet-like hair in twin tails. "Hardly worth our time, I'd say." A warm breeze played in his blue Mohawk.

"Right, but don'chya be knowin that there are fewer guys we can give a good beatin' to round these woods? They may be weaker'n us, but we need the cash." A certain red-haired demon said as he kicked a rock aside.

"On top of that, you keep drinking away what we DO make." The blonde demon added with contempt. The others often wondered about his preferences with all the flashy outfits he chose.

"Oh, right. Like your precious beauty products don't add to the tab? 'Oh, look at me in my be-yu-ti-ful make-up! I may look like a clown, but at least—' my foot ain't up yer arse and your rubber nose ain't down your throat. It's all that you'll get in meals next time I cook," Chu blurted out, spittle flying everywhere.

"With the way you cook, I don't think there's going to BE a next time," the floating midget said above Suzuka's shoulder. "I don't know about the rest of you, but being drunk from soup that's been cooking for hours is not the way I want to go to sleep. Hangovers aren't something I enjoy." A few murmers of agreement followed.

"How the heck do ye get hung over when ye barely touched the stuff? You called it garbage after one bite." Chu smiled at his memory of the food. "It was first rate cooking! There was nothin' wrong with the stuff." It's amazing that the mere memory of it was enough for his face to start flushing.

"Yeah, maybe for—" Touya paused, freezing in place. The others followed suit and shut up. The trees in the moderately forested area surrounded them, and distant leaves were heard moving. Each head turned to the sound. They readied for an encounter. Nothing good ever came from an upward attack. Jin gently floated just above the ground, and the others built a small aura around them.

* * *

Rina couldn't help it. She was starving, and they had so much that… she kinda ended up stealing a serving or three of the band's food. Roasted boar meat would be perfect with her latest batch of herbs. Thinking she'd gotten away without a hitch, she started back to the road only to discover that she was sorely mistaken.

"And where do you think you're going with our food?"

"Home, so I can try out a new recipe. I'm sure it'll be delicious," she added with a smile.

The lesser demon lunged at her while calling out, "I don't think so!"

She dodged easily enough by leaping up. She bounded even higher by using his head as a springboard and landed in the lowest branches of a nearby tree.

"Seeya guys!" She called as she waved goodbye before turning back toward the road and leaping from branch to branch. The other two members of the raided party came rushing after her screaming obscenities and throwing rocks at her. _They haven't even mastered their basic energy spheres? Wow, they must be more minor than I thought._ She rushed on ahead without hesitation and surefooted grace.

* * *

Jin's ears wiggled slightly as shouts reached his ears. "It's juss someone bein' chased again."

"Things never change, do they?" Touya commented.

The shouts grew closer before they decided to keep moving. They all froze again when a large crash and an even louder scream came from the same direction… Only this time, the scream landed in front of them with a muffled "Oooph!" and not one, but two thuds. Yup, Rina bounced when she landed, making impact just that much more painful. She recovered quickly enough to check for the food, discovering that the extra leg was at Chu's feet. As she reached for it, the shouts grew loud enough to make out.

"There she is! Now let's teach her not to mess with us."

"Yeah, nobody steals from us and gets away with it."

"Oh, brother," Rinku said when he caught sight of the pitiful excuse for demons. "You idiots left your stash to go running after her, didn't you?"

"Uh, well…" The leader seemed to stumble, sweat starting to run down his neck.

"Then you may have been stolen from already. And it's likely to be much worse than just a little bit of food."

"We've still got to teach her a lesson!" The one on the left said.

Rina held onto her food tight as she tried to hide behind Chu. He seemed about 6'6" so he should easily be able to hide her mere 5'6" self.

"Aw, see? Now you've really scared the little Shiela." He turned around to face her. "It's ok, I won't let them hurt a cute little thing like you." He winked. "Promise." He turned back around to find that the three demons were already beaten up pretty bad, one being dragged away by the other two. "See? I kept my word."

"Really, Chu. You didn't do anything," Touya said, a tone of disdain leading the words along.

"Well, thanks for saving me. I guess I should be going now, so—"

"What's the big hurry with ya now? Not like we're gonna gobble ye all up." Jin put on his best smile and even wiggled his ears to add effect. Rina smiled at his ears.

"So were you really stealing their food?" Shishiwakamaru said, his sandles flopping as he stepped around Suzuka to see. Nobody had noticed him shift form.

"Well, I was hungry and they had so much so…" She at least had the sense to look embarrassed and a little ashamed. "Besides, I wanted to try out a new recipe, and this would be perfect for it." She looked up suddenly, and idea flashing behind her dark brown eyes. "I know! How about I make this into a meal for you and me to share as thanks? What do you think?" Her bright smile spread across her whole face.

"I dunno. I mean… we just met and all, and…" Rinku stumbled.

"How do we know we can trust you," Suzuka cut to the chase.

"Well… I don't know. I do owe you guys though, so it's the least I can do."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Chu said with a huge grin on his face as he hunched over to wrap an arm around her shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner was served within short order and the boys practically drooled over the seeming smorgasbord. Their stomachs were heard over every sound she made in preparation and she even made them wait so she could serve and make sure everyone got a good sized helping.

"So, lady," Rinku started. "What are you?"

"Now, you know better than to ask a beau'iful Sheila like her somethin' like that," Chu said with a mild tone while glaring at Rinku.

"Well, actually—"Rina began, but was interrupted with Rinku and Chu's arguing.

"What's wrong with asking? Huh? I'm just curious!"

"Because it's rude and you don't wanna scare her away, now do ya," Chu asked, spit flying from his mouth and volume increasing with every few syllables.

"No, I'll leave that to you."

Rina's laughter was soft as she watched the spectacle rise in intensity. Touya had had enough of it by the time Chu had Rinku in some form of a headlock and was giving him a noogie while Rinku tried to gnaw off Chu's arm.

"Chill, you two." And the two were almost instantly frosted with ice.

A deep sigh with a broad smile covering her face brought Rina back to normal. "I haven't laughed like that in ages." She continued when she suppressed the last of the giggles, feeling a little lightheaded. "And I don't know what I am, to answer your question. Nobody can tell me, so… I just assume that I'm me and that's enough." The feeling didn't fade well.

The boys stopped eating for a second and took a good look at her to see what she meant. It never occurred to them to try. She took a few bites of her food while her chin-length dark emerald green hair got in the way. She shook her head a bit to clear it out of her eyes. Her clawless hands exuded delicacy in their slightness. When she looked back up from her food, her hair returned to normal again and parted showing a small horn on her forehead between her bangs. Her amber eyes widened with something like curiosity and something else; and her furry pointed animal ears twitched. They could only guess which animal those came from. Not round so not a monkey or bear. Pointy, but somewhere between both cat and dog.

"Is something wrong?" Her voice broke through the group stare.

"Well, I have no idea what you are. It's like you're a menagerie of other demons," Suzuka commented.

"What are your powers," Rinku asked.

Rina gave a few hard blinks. "Um… well… I can kinda work with plants some, but I'm not very—" Dizziness swept through her. In her eyes, everything went dark.

She landed on her back with a loud thump. Jin was the first one to get to her, flying over everyone.

"She's got a fever and she's breathing really fast." Pulling his hand away from her cheek he made another observation. "She's sweatin' a lot too."

"Sounds like poison." Touya wasn't one to mince words. He flared up his energy some and created a ball of ice and held it to her face.

"Poison! Was it in the food," Shishiwakamaru cried dropping his plate and backing away from everyone. All but Touya and Suzuka stared back at the food.

"Do you really think she'd be stupid enough to poison herself along with us if that were the case," Suzuka pointed out. He helped Touya inspect her body.

"That makes sense. And the food didn't taste funny. She's quite good at that, actually," Chu admitted. "Course, not as good as me."

"Nope, she's better," Rinku inserted, earning him Chu's wrath once more.

"Either way, she's not lookin' too whoopee, now is she?" Jin looked at her feet while Suzuka looked at her hands and Touya resumed trying to cool her down some.

"Why do you idiots even care about her?" Shishi paced away from her prone form. "She just cooked us food, not like we owe her anything, and besides—"

"Found somethin'!" Jin held up her foot and pointed to the narrow cut on her ankle. "It's already clotted and scabbed. It was so tiny it probably didn't even bleed much either."

Suzuka crept close to see. "It's a small amount of poison at best, but still could prove fatal if she doesn't get the right treatment soon."

Shishi kept on his tirade. "And I still think we should've taken that guy up on that job…" He turned back around to see his five companions rushing off, carrying Rina. "Hey! Wait for me!" And off he rushed with them.


	3. Chapter 3

Rina felt like she was floating. She couldn't really feel her body. It was like she was surrounded with a thick layer of nothingness. She tried to speak, but couldn't make her mouth work.

"What the…?" The words echoed. "Why are my thoughts echoing? And why can't I speak?"

She tried to open her eyes, but nothing but utter darkness was the result. After a while, she couldn't tell if they were open or closed. "Well… what now?" And onward she floated.

"Looks to me like a minor case of Leatichi poisoning. Fatal if left untreated, but I think you got it in time," the equine-spirit stated. "Just open the wound some, apply this paste to it and the poison should be drawn to it in no time. What isn't drawn out will be fought off by her immune system."

"And how often do we need to reapply the paste," Suzuka asked while Touya looked at the jar.

"Oh, I'd say about every…"

"Shishi, quit sulkin'. Yer makin' me antsy." Chu twitched as Shishiwakamaru paced back and forth on the coffee table in imp form.

"No." He turned around to walk down the length again. "Why don't you get drunk again like always? That'll pass the time."

"Thank you, doctor. We'll call you if anything changes," Touya said as he opened the door. The equine-spirit bowed his head briefly in acknowledgement of the other demons in the apartment, before taking payment from Suzuka at the front door and leaving.

"Well? Is the lass fine or not?" Jin got too close to Suzuka's face with his eagerness. Suzuka pushed him away some.

"It's a minor poisoning, but we need to open that wound again to give her proper treatment," Touya stated, still in the bedroom door. "Other than that, it's all up to her, really."

"Why do you even care? It's not like we know her; it's not like she's good for anything other than cooking—because we all know that none of us are talented in that area—but still." Shishiwakamaru floated off the table and started jumping up and down on the back of the couch as he continued. "So far she's been nothing but trouble: bringing those idiot bandits and then costing us a lot of our hard-earned bounty money. We owe her nothing!" And like before, he was ignored.

"Touya, can you refresh her ice? I'll apply the paste. Rinku, why don't you go play with your little monkey friend, and Shishi?" Shishi stopped his ranting for just a moment to look at Suzuka. "Just… just continue what you were doing." Suzuka went into the room and began tending to Rina's needs. Chu was already in the kitchen seeking out some food since Rina's fainting spell left the food in the middle of nowhere.

Shishiwakamaru noticed this and rushed over in full form. "No way are you cooking. Gimme that!" He snatched the frying pan from Chu and started making some scrambled eggs with various extras in there. Chu's resulting grin just irritated the overgrown imp, but he kept cooking enough for an army… so just enough for the six of them.

"What about the little Sheila in the other room? What if she wakes up hungry? You're not gonna let her starve, now are ya?"

"Then you can share your helping with her," Shishi snapped. "You eat too much anyway."

"Well, I'm a growing boy, what do ya expect?"

Grumbling, Shishi added an extra egg in the mix. Jin returned soon after with much needed groceries.

Rina still felt like she was floating, but her body was no longer numb. It was on fire.

"It hurts! Someone make it stop, please!"

As if someone had heard her, she felt some slight relief in her ankle. It felt like a band of coolness wrapping around it. "Focus on that. That might be better." And she did. She tried to focus her energy there and soon the warmth was retreating in the wake of the cold. Such relief she felt that she poured as much of it there as she could until she couldn't anymore. Then she was just floating in nothingness once more, half overheating, half in blissful cool.

The five demons in the apartment were staring in confusion at Rina's resting body. Touya placed some more of the paste on the wound. Within an instant it vanished.

"When the paste vanishes, apply some more," Doctor Shun, the equine-spirit had told them. They just didn't know that it would happen so fast or so often.

"Jin, circulate the air some. Her fever is going down, but until she wakes up, she won't be fine," Touya instructed. Jin followed directions. The increased air flow distracted Shishi, causing him to run from the room. In the distance his screams of agony were heard.

"It's ruined!"

His meal would have to wait.


	4. Chapter 4

Rina felt an unknown amount of time pass. To her, any time was an eternity like this. Her strength returned like the near-steady drip of water from stalactites. Each pulse of power rippled through her and cooled her.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this," she thought with echoing results.

A cool breeze washed over her entirety. Unfortunately, the chill soon became ravenous of her heat and began stealing too much. She reined in her energy and set it to work on heating her. This sent waves of tingles through her body, most strongly at her feet.

"What's going on now?"

* * *

Unknown to her, Suzuka mimicked Rina's remark. After running out of the herbal paste, they took turns watching her. It was strange that it would vanish almost immediately, but since nothing else happened and her condition stabilized some, they figured she would be ok with someone watching her. It was Suzuka's turn.

"What's going on, now?" He backed away some from the bed she lay on. Chu popped in after hearing his shout.

"What's the ruckus this time? Yer almost as loud as Yurameshi."

Suzuka pointed at Rina as he said, "That's not normal." This caught Chu's eye and a grimace crossed his face. It came back with a friend named panic and sat there for a moment while Chu called in the others. They were just as much at a loss for what to say as the first two.

The sight before them was the short Rina on the bed, fully clothed and then covered in a layer of both energy vines and regular vines. A few of the physical ones reached out from its nest around her ankles toward the guys. It made a few motions as if waving its tip in a "come hither" sort of way.

Shishiwakamaru, beyond upset with this girl for intruding on their lives, drew his sword and hacked away at some of the vines. Too bad for him that his blade bounced right off the energy vines. Touya tried to freeze some of the vines, and only managed to work on some of the smaller offshoots.

"Great. Just great. Now what're we going to do," Suzuka voiced when the two stopped their futile assault.

"Whatever we do, it's not going to affect those plants," Touya said. "I don't want to hurt her; she hasn't done anything wrong to me."

"Me either," most of the others chorused. Shishi was the only one who didn't agree, saying a mere, "Don't care."

"So whatever we do, it'll be involvin' us holdin back. She—" Jin said until Shishi interrupted him.

"You know what I think?"

"Who cares? Screw the consequences, cut the vines and get her out," Suzuka stated.

"I say, who cares? Screw the—Hey!"

"Hey, her energy is doing something strange," Rinku added. The energy vines wrapped tightly around her and calmed down. The physical vines stopped growing as well. "It looks like a giant blanket. Maybe she was cold?"

Chu stuck his hand over the woven energy. "It certainly is warm. I think he's right."

"But if the energy is keeping her warm, then what's with the large vines around her ankles," Touya asked. As if in response, the vines started to blossom.

"Hey! I know that plant. It's the same kind the doctor said is in her salve." Suzuka pointed to the now-empty jar.

"She did say she could manipulate plants, but who knew she had this kind of power over them," Rinku said. He made as if to poke the flower, which snapped at his extended hand and he quickly retreated behind Chu. "Hey, that's not very nice."

"So… what? We just wait until she wakes up and see if it goes away?" Suzuka eyed the plant warily.

"Or, since it's so hostile, we just let it eat her. Whichever comes first," Shishi said with a shrug. He never saw the stray ice-blast coming. Touya had started to freeze off the rest of the vines and accidentally hit Shishi as he changed angles. He smirked as he mumbled a soft "oops," but kept working. The vines were under control this time within minutes with Chu's help of breaking off frozen portions.

"So how'd the vines start to grow in the first place? I mean she had the salve or paste or whatever, and then she's got vines growing out of her. Freaky." Rinku shuddered when they finished.

"I think ya gave the answer, yerself, Rinku," Jin replied.

"Huh?"

"The salve contained bits of the plants. She used those bits to grow the plant itself, even though she's unconscious now. Seeing as much, I don't think she meant to, and somehow, I get the feeling that she doesn't know she can do this. At least, not this well," Touya explained.

"So what? We gonna train her now," Shishi asked with not a small dose of sarcasm. The others looked at him in unison. His face sank as theirs grew brighter. "Why did I open my big mouth?" And then he returned to imp form and slunk away.


End file.
